First, a one-takeaway SXSW recap of a few speakers (all quotes paraphrased by me):

Seth Priebatsch of SCVNGR
“The last decade was about social… about making connections… and Facebook won. The next wave is gameification… adding a gaming level to the social layer… about your influence.”

Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist of Apple
“In business meetings, dress for a ‘tie’… if you show up wearing ripped jeans a hoodie to a formal meeting where everyone else is wearing suits, you’re saying ‘I don’t respect you’… if you show up wearing a suit and oozing style to a casual meeting where everyone else is dressed down, you’re saying ‘I am better than you’… shoot for a relatively even match.” (Although not sure a certain jeans and black-turtleneck-wearing CEO would always agree).

Tim Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Body
When asked to Richard Branson, world-famous entrepreneur, creative-thinker, and businessperson, to answer the question ‘How do you become more productive?’… Branson gave a simple two word answer: ‘work out’.”

Blake Mycoskie, founder of Tom’s Shoes
“It’s OK to support charity with a for-profit business… think about how you can incorporate giving into your business… it’s amazing how your employees and everyone around you will respond.”

OK, How do you throw a successful sponsored event?

The cool part of my job at Wired was I got to host not one but TWO events at SXSW.

The first was an “entrepreneurs dinner,” sponsored by Starbucks and hosted by myself and Adam Brotman, their Vice President of Digital Ventures.

Adam and I went through a few of the emerging trends we were seeing at SXSW, along with case studies for how Starbucks is reaching out to their users with social media, loyalty programs, and their Starbucks Digital Network.

It was great to work with a company that “gets it,” and are using technology to reach out to customers, create a better experience, and even work on shortening the lines.

The key items to throwing a great dinner event, as discussed in the podcast, are:
Right event
Right sponsor
Right location
Right people
Right food and drink
Adjusting to audience
Leave them with something
Keep it going

The key items to throwing a great happy hour, as discussed in the podcast via the “5 rights” and “5 Ps”, are:

The Wired Happy Hour at SXSW attracted a huge crowd

Right sponsors
Right location
Right people
Right day and time
Right amount of food and drink

Props
Prizes
Preparation
Promotion
Peace, not Panic

I’d love to write more, but since I’m catching up at work after a week off, you’ll need to listen to the whole podcast to get the tips, and check out the photos below.

I gave away a ton of swag from Griffin Technology

Users scramble to show me a Foursquare check-in from Starbucks, our primary sponsor, which resulted in a $100 Starbucks Gift Card.